Filipino Martial Arts in Destin, FL

I spoke to one of the moderators who said this is the best section for this post. If it belongs elsewhere, I apologize in advance--Im not real familiar with the organization of the forum.

At any rate, my name is Josh Walker and I train and teach a system of Arnis (Tabimina Balintawak) in Destin, FL. Im working towards building a base of students in Destin and the surrounding areas. In that effort, if there are members on the forum that have any interest in Arnis, all are welcome to visit here in Destin for training in the system I train and teach.

Additionally, in an effort to provide the martial art community an unbiased review of what I am teaching in the area, Im willing to provide a free intro session to anyone who wants to come train and follow up with an honest, unbiased review here on the Gym & School Ratings portion of Bullshido. Since I still only rent space from a small local studio and I generally only teach private 1-1 sessions by appointment, I understand that I wont score well on some portions of the rating system such as amenities, etc; But Im really only concerned with the perceived quality of the instruction Im providing. Id like to also mention that this is not meant as any type of challenge; Im simply looking for people who are wanting to train and/or willing to write a review for Bullshido archives.

Hello Josh. Welcome to Bullshido. I'm guessing that Jessie used to train with you? I've rolled with him a few times. I currently train stick in Pensacola. A guy that I train with, Billy, has visited your school before, I believe.

Anyways, I would be glad to do a review of your school and style for Bullshido if you would like. I'm not sure when I will be able to get out to Destin to visit, I'm busy this weekend. But maybe over the next couple of weeks.

It will also be cool to meet local FMA guys. And if you are ever in Pensacola, and want to do some stick sparring, let me know. Right now we are training Monday nights out at some baseball fields.

I did meet Jesse back in 2010 when I moved down here but he trained in a different lineage of the art and I believe the drive made it difficult for him to come out here for training. As for Billy, I cant recall for sure. I think Ive talked with him on the phone but weve not yet had the chance to actually meet up, if memory serves me...and it may not lol.

Sure thing, you are welcome out here any time--I appreciate the offer to come out and provide a review. My schedule is very flexible, so just let me know when you want to come out and we can get something arranged. And of course, likewise, it will be great to meet some others involved with FMA! =)

I appreciate the invitation, but its difficult for me to get out to Pensacola, and really my goal here is to provide sessions to people interested in Tabimina Balintawak. If ever I head out that way, I will let you know, and of course if youre out this way, my invitation stands.

As for sparring, what we do is unconventional, but from the students perspective all the training is in a sense sparring, from start to finish. We dont have hubud or sumbrada or any of the other flow drills, etc found in most FMA. Its always a focused training to hone the reaction of the student in a non-choreographed, pressurized environment.

Yeah, I understand. Destin is not as close to Pensacola as it seems!! But I will be going to Panama City in June, so I may be able to drop over at that time.

Yeah, I'm not familiar with Tabimina Balintawak. I'm very interested in what it is. I've never really been into hubud, sumbrada, or forms. I did tons of forms in other arts and really got wore out by the whole thing. I've heard some of the Dog Brothers talk about Balintawak and apparently Crafty Dog uses the traping stuff for close or inside work. I haven't hear much about long range or outside type footwork. And I haven't really seen any videos of Balintawak footwork. Most of the videos I've seen kind of look like a combination of boxing and Wing Chun with a stick. But I may be way off base there, because I'm pretty ignorant of the system.

But yeah, as long as it is being pressure tested and the sparring is alive, it must be good. I'm very interested to check your system out.

I see you make dit da jow too. I may have to hit you up for some of that, when I make it by!!

Do you know when you will be in Panama City? Ill be in Orlando training June 3-7 and in Oklahoma teaching from June 19-24, so heres hoping your travel dates dont overlap...

Videos of Tabimina Balintawak arent real useful for seeing how things are done because the focus isnt on techniques or footwork methods, etc, and we almost never perform movements slowly or without pressure. Its a reaction-based system so the focus here is on installing productive reactionary responses in the nervous system, real-time and under pressure. I get all excited talking about it, but conceptualizing things probably wont answer any questions; you really have to just feel it...

Yea, I do make jow--lots of it! Id be happy to give you a good deal on a bottle when youre in town. There are a couple formulas that are particularly well accepted by the MMA/BJJ crowd, Im sure you would enjoy.